Tattoo session #6 & 7

Since April last year, back in Getting Inked Again, when I first mentioned getting a sleeve tattoo to cover my right arm, to where I am now, has taken a little over a year to complete.

7 session later, here it is.

From those first sketches in April, it took 4 months before I got the first session done and another 5 months for the second session. After that though, they were a bit more frequent as I got around to getting myself inked about once every month.

Until finally, this month, when I went twice and got it finished.

The last parts are still healing and I’m still figuring out how to actually take a decent picture of it, which is why the above will have to suffice for now.

6 month beard

A couple of weeks ago I reached the halfway mark on my stupid beard journey—in which I grow out my beard and hair for an entire year—and to celebrate I had another moment of, “Should I really continue with this?”

The answer is, “Yes.”

Achievement unlocked: Bringin’ it like Robinson Crusoe.

I know I said I was going to trim and groom my beard, to not let it take over our lives but to be honest, I have idea what I’m doing.

After 6 months, I now have—sort of—a beard but no clue how to make it look nice and tidy. Oh, the first world problems some of us have.

I’ve trimmed the moustache twice but I still feel woefully uninformed about what I should and shouldn’t be doing.

So, I suspect I’m going to have to do some research, maybe even buy some equipment like a good trimmer.

Back to the Comic Con

Our little group once again returned to MCM Comic Con, which had, a record breaking, more than 122,000 visitors this time.

Last time I had wanted to take more interesting pictures, which I—in hindsight—feel I accomplished adequately. This time, I wanted to take less pictures and really enjoy the experience of being there instead and judging by the few decent pictures I have one can only assume—feel free to assume—that I accomplished it… adequately.

Let’s play a game of, “Can you spot the Bender/Hulk?”

In anticipation of the upcoming Batman: Arkham Knight game, I had planned on dressing up as Scarecrow but this went as plans sometimes go, agley, and in the end neither I, or anyone of our group, dressed up.

Which is a shame, as John Noble—the voice actor for Scarecrow in said upcoming game—was attending Comic Con and I would have loved to see him. He played Walter Bishop in the TV series Fringe, which is still one of my favourite sci-fi series of all time.

At least I got see the Batmobile based on, again, said upcoming game.

“I’m the goddamn Batmobile!”

A celebrity I did manage to see up close thought was Karl Yune, who portrays Maseo Yamashiro on CW’s Arrow, as he casually strolled past us carrying a take-away bag of food.

This is apparently how Kratos smiles.

Of course, no Comic Con would be complete without a plushie for Lucien. And since he’s still really into Pokémon I figured I would continue his modest collection and got him Chikorita, a Grass-type Pokémon, this time.

A wild Chikorita appeared.

So, with so little pictures to show for, what was the highlight of this year’s Comic Con?

This.

Another thing I can check off the bucket list.

To my disappointment I missed Christopher Lloyd, Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brow, who had been there earlier in the morning. Still though. That’s me, in the DeLorean.

Drinking better beer

As some of you might know, I’ve been exploring the wonderful world of beers–though often ales—ever since my brother Christian introduced me to Shepherd Neame’s Spitfire, an award-winning Kentish ale, that I didn’t particularly like.

But what it did was open up my eyes—mouth?—to that beer can be about more than just getting drunk.

Since then I’ve always strived to embrace every opportunity to try different ales, keeping a spreadsheet—who doesn’t?—of my thoughts and notes, which can sometimes be as simple as, “Meh”.

And one thing I’ve wanted to try since moving to the UK, is a subscription beer company—something which wouldn’t be legally possible in Finland—called Beerbods.

The first beer, Lymestone’s Ein Stein, was not my kind of beer but I still enjoyed the experience.

Every 12 weeks, they send you a box of different beers and every Thursday everyone gets together online and drink the same beer, sharing thoughts and opinions.

Which is why I now have 12—11 at the time of writing—weeks worth of beers and look forward to trying them all.